The ISME Journal (2020) 14:2890–2900 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41396-020-00760-6 ARTICLE The cell organization underlying structural colour is involved in Flavobacterium IR1 predation 1 2 1,3 1 Raditijo Hamidjaja ● Jérémie Capoulade ● Laura Catón ● Colin J. Ingham Received: 29 March 2020 / Revised: 14 August 2020 / Accepted: 24 August 2020 / Published online: 1 September 2020 © The Author(s) 2020. This article is published with open access Abstract Flavobacterium IR1 is a gliding bacterium with a high degree of colonial organization as a 2D photonic crystal, resulting in vivid structural coloration when illuminated. Enterobacter cloacae B12, an unrelated bacterium, was isolated from the brown macroalga Fucus vesiculosus from the same location as IR1. IR1 was found to be a predator of B12. A process of surrounding, infiltration, undercutting and killing of B12 supported improved growth of IR1. A combination of motility and capillarity facilitated the engulfment of B12 colonies by IR1. Predation was independent of illumination. Mutants of IR1 that formed photonic crystals less effectively than the wild type were reduced in predation. Conversely, formation of a photonic crystal was not advantageous in resisting predation by Rhodococcus spp. PIR4. These observations suggest that the 1234567890();,: 1234567890();,: organization required to create structural colour has a biological function (facilitating predation) but one that is not directly related to the photonic properties of the colony. This work is the first experimental evidence supporting a role for this widespread type of cell organization in the Flavobacteriia. Introduction to highly repeated arrays of cells which can assemble rapidly to form a 2D photonic crystal (2DPC) [1], a form of Flavobacterium IR1 is a gliding bacterium that can spread structural colour (SC), which is distinct in mechanism from over hydrated surfaces [1]. Gliding and spreading by IR1 chemical pigmentation. SC, in various forms, is widely appears to use many of the Spr and Gld proteins homo- distributed in nature with roles in sexual selection, camou- logous to those from Flavobacterium johnsoniae [1–4]. flage, modulation of photosynthesis and thermal regulation Metabolism of the sulphated polysaccharides κ-carageenan [8–10]. However, no role for bacterial SC has been identi- and fucoidan by IR1 suggests interactions between this fied to date. bacterium and both red and brown macroalgae. Like some Surfaces form one of the major habitats of microbial life other members of the order Flavobacteriia [5–7] colonies of [11, 12]. Bacteria compete on surfaces with diverse strate- IR1 cells are intensely coloured when illuminated with gies. Swarming, gliding and other mechanisms of bacterial white light and viewed from specific angles [1]. This is due spreading over surfaces offer advantages in dispersal and competition [12–15]. Predators, including bacteria, gen- erally require motility to contact their prey. The gliding myxobacteria actively sense, surround and consume other Supplementary information The online version of this article (https:// bacteria [16–18]. Flavobacteria glide by a mechanism dis- doi.org/10.1038/s41396-020-00760-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. tinct from surface motility in myxobacteria [2, 19]. This form of gliding is rapid and often associated with the * Colin J. Ingham enzymatic degradation of polysaccharide as well as [email protected] improved survival on surfaces [12]. Motile, bacterial pre- 1 Hoekmine BV, Utrecht 3548 CH, The Netherlands dators that target both Eukaryotes and other bacteria are 2 widely distributed in nature [20–22]. It has been suggested Department of Bionanoscience, Kavli Institute of Nanoscience, – Delft University of Technology, van der Maasweg 9, Delft 2629 that the predator prey relationship originated within the HZ, The Netherlands Bacteria [23] and that bacterial predation may play a sig- fi 3 Department of Chemistry, Cambridge University, Lensfield Road, ni cant ecological role [12]. Within the gliding Flavo- Cambridge, UK bacteriia predators of Eukaryotes have been described, such The cell organization underlying structural colour is involved in Flavobacterium IR1 predation 2891 as a ‘Cytophaga’ sp. consuming diatoms [24], and bacter- This suggests that IR1 was not simply pushing bacterial- iolytic Olleya and Tenacibaculum species [25]. The soil sized objects outside the imaging area. Outside the area of bacterium F. johnsoniae is predatory, deploying a type VI (co-)inoculation, the more motile IR1 dominated completely secretory apparatus that delivers toxins to Gram-negative (Fig. S2b, c) and was able to disengage from B12 and form bacterial prey [26]. axenic gliding groups. Imaging of B12(pGFP) and IR1 IR1 has not previously been shown to be predatory on indicated that B12 was not present within emerging masses other bacteria. This work focuses on interactions with of IR1 (Fig. S2b, c). bacteria isolated from the same environment as IR1. We show that predation by IR1 of other bacteria occurs, and IR1 grows on living cells of B12 on starvation requires organization as a 2DPC. This is the first experi- medium suggesting predation mental evidence that formation of a photonic crystal by bacteria has survival value, albeit not one directly linked to The interaction between IR1 and B12 was tested on agar illumination. plates that contained insufficient nutrients for the growth of either strain alone (starvation medium). IR1 was inoculated directly on a starvation plate previously spread with either Results dead or alive B12 (that had been repeatedly washed to avoid carry-over of nutrients). Both dead and living B12 cells IR1 invades colonies of other bacteria on low- supported progressive colony expansion (up to 0.5 mm nutrient agar plates day−1) by IR1 over a period of 12 days, compared to starvation medium alone (Fig. 1 and Fig. S2d). Live strain A screening was made for bacteria that interacted when in B12, in the absence of IR1, did not show a high level of close proximity with IR1 colonies on ASWBLow agar propidium iodide (PI) staining on starvation medium and plates. The source of the bacteria was the same as IR1: ASWLow suggesting that autolysis was not occurring sediment and the brown alga Fucus vesiculosus from (Fig. S3a, b). Therefore, IR1 appeared to be growing at the brackish water near Rotterdam Harbour (NL), after storage expense of B12; that scavenging (use of dead cells as of original samples at −80 °C for 5 years (Tables S1 and S2 nutrients) and predation (use of live cells of another species for strains used). The most common form of interaction as nutrients) both occurred. found was that motile, gliding cells from colonies of IR1 overgrew and degraded some adjacent colonies. The bac- Invasion of B12 by IR1 is first by infiltration and teria that were vulnerable to IR1 were identified on the basis then by undercutting of B12 of 16S rRNA sequencing and found to be Moraxella osloensis, Staphylococcus pasteuri, Pseudomonas spp., In order to visualize the early stages in predation, an assay Pedobacter spp. and Enterobacteria cloacae. The latter was created where spots of IR1 and B12(pGFP) were were repeatedly isolated and strain B12 was chosen for inoculated 3 mm apart on ASWBLow agar. This “encoun- further work. In contrast, successful competition by IR1 ter” assay allowed growth of both strains, motility of IR1 over B12 was not seen in liquid culture or a submerged biofilm model (Supplementary Fig. S1). SC was also not observed in liquid culture nor biofilms. Competition between IR1 and B12 co-inoculated on an agar surface Further competition experiments were performed between IR1 and GFP-expressing B12(pGFP) on low-nutrient agar plates to determine the basis of the competitiveness of IR1. The two strains were co-inoculated as a 10 µl spot on ASWBLow plates, which were then incubated at 22 °C for up to 2 days. Within the area of inoculation, IR1 reduced the numbers of viable B12 to below the initial inoculation level, suggesting an active killing mechanism. Replacing Fig. 1 Colony expansion of IR1 on starvation medium in the fl presence or absence of B12. IR1 colony expansion rates (average of the cells of B12 with similar numbers of uorescein- n = 3) were calculated over two weeks. Shaded circles, IR1 on agar labelled latex spheres (0.2–2 µm diameter) resulted in no without B12. Solid circles, IR1 on agar covered with living B12. Open significant redistribution of the spheres by growing IR1. circles, IR1 on agar with dead B12. 2892 R. Hamidjaja et al. but not B12, and monitoring by microscopy of the early interactions upon contact. Initially, IR1 expanded equally in all directions, showing no directed movement towards the B12 colony. Contact between two colonies (on the mm scale) was therefore driven by gliding IR1 and was acci- dental, not directed. After contact, the following stages in predation were observed: Stage 1 (1–4 h after contact) Cells of IR1 infiltrated the B12 colony. The IR1 cells were flexible (Movie S1) and moved through dense masses of B12. In addition, IR1 cells moved around the periphery of the B12 colony to surround it, as detectable by the SC displayed by IR1 (Fig. 2a). Stage 2 (4–20 h after contact) Channels were created through the periphery of the B12 colony by groups of IR1 (Fig. 2a–d). Stage 3 (after 20 h) Penetration of IR1 cells into the B12 colony interior occurred through increasingly large breaches at the per- iphery of the prey colony, spreading to hollow it out. In this stage, groups of hundreds to thousands of cells of IR1 moved into B12, in an arrangement reminiscent of roots pushing through soil (Figs. 2e–g, 3 and Movie S2). Initial progress through the B12 colony was rapid, up to 60% of the rate at which IR1 spread over agar in the absence of B12, i.e., up to 5 mm h−1.